WBG Score: 7.5
Player Count: 2-8
You’ll like this if you like: Herd Mentality, Sounds Fishy, Wits & Wagers.
Published by: Big Potato Games
This is a free review copy. See our review policy here.
Big Potato Games sure do know how to create fun! And they have done it again with this small box party game that can be learnt in seconds. The game is based on guessing what sort of things your friends and family either really like, or find really icky! It's a simple "know your friends" style game but with some very modern themes. This all comes from a TikTok trend that two members of the Big Potato social media team, Nat and Lily, thought would make a good game. How cool is that? Good you you Nat and Lily! Let's get it to the table to see how it plays.
How To Set Up Get The Ick
Open the box and give each player one of the small square emoji faces. One side will show a heart eyes emoji face, the other showing the "eek" face, which for this game represents the "ick"! One player who starts as the chooser will take the four larger circular single sided pieces. Shuffle the cards and deal three face up. All players will now read the cards and you are ready to play.
How To Play Get The Ick
The player with the four large tokens is in the hot seat. They will now place three tokens from these four available face down, one each next to the three cards. Two of the tokens show a blank face, one has a love face and the final one has an eek/ick face. The player in the hot seat does not have to use both of the emoji faces, but must use the ick token. Either two blanks and one ick emoji face will be placed face down, or one blank and two emoji's. The other players now need to guess what this player has chosen, placing their one small coloured token down to one of the three cards, either love eyes face up or eek/ick face up. They have one token so can only pick one thing for one card.
When all players have placed their token, the hot seat player will now flip their tokens to reveal what they love or hate. Players will score one point for a correctly guessed ick, three for correctly guessed love (both for the player in the hot seat and anyone who chose it), and zero for an incorrect guess. If half or more of the players guess the ick correctly the choosing player scores a point. If the choosing player in the hot seat used the love token and no one guesses this correctly, they loose one point. Play them moves round one space, and the next player is in the hot seat choosing with three new cards.
You can play for fun, a timed game, or to a certain points target. It's up to you. The rules suggests you play for as long as it takes for each player to have a turn in the hot seat choosing, but I found this to be way too short! You will want the fun to lost way longer than that.
Get The Ick Party Game Review - Is It Fun?
Will you enjoy this game? Well, ask yourself this. Do you enjoy spirited conversations with your friends and family? That's all this is. Inside this small box you will find all you need to create a great conversation. Of course, this is a gamified conversation where you are trying to guess what things your fellow players like and dislike. But ultimately, this is about enjoying time with fellow humans. Sat round a table, or relaxed on a coach, Get The Ick gives you the tools to discuss, debate, argue, cheer, and become thunderstruck by your friends choices.
"You don't hate it when...?"
"You like that?!"
You will hear a lot of cries of surprise such as this when you play. As players realise that not everyone shares the same beliefs as them. And what a joy that is. There will also be the satisfaction as you guess your friends likes and dislikes correctly. But it always seems to be the wrong guesses that evoke the biggest reactions. And what fun that is!
The cards are brilliant. Contemporary. Relevant. Universally accessible. Thought provoking. But most importantly, funny. The odd card did not work for my younger child (seven) but it is very easy to discard, flip or replace.
Knowing that your family knows you find certain things amusing or not is strangely satisfying. Finding out your friends think you are way nicer than you actually are is also quite amusing. Although, perhaps potentially damaging!
The game is light-hearted, good intentioned, and full of cheer. Approach the game with the same mentality and you will have a blast. I would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys games with friends or family that spark debate and discussion and enjoys a laugh as they play.